[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.22,0:00:02.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Americans eat a lot of meat.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:03.20,0:00:04.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We eat it\Nfor all meals for the day,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.50,0:00:06.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because it's the Fourth of July,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.38,0:00:09.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because we're at a baseball game, and because, hey, it's on sale.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.80,0:00:12.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We consume more of it then the rest of\Nthe world,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.99,0:00:17.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all that consumption has a big\Nimpact. If everyone ate meat like Americans,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.44,0:00:19.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it would be a disaster. so what is it\Nabout us
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.70,0:00:23.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what is it about us, that's turned America into a nation of carnivores?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.70,0:00:25.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It could be our wealth –
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.24,0:00:27.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but there are other countries that are\Nwealthier.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.40,0:00:29.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It could be our farm subsidies –
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.42,0:00:32.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but lots of other countries have those too. I was curious –
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.54,0:00:36.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I phoned a meat historian.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.98,0:00:40.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"My name is Maureen Ogle, and I'm a historian."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.93,0:00:45.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For seven years she researched meat and\Nin the end, she wrote a book about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.42,0:00:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This book.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.00,0:00:49.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, why are we such meat fanatics?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.47,0:00:53.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"One thing that's important to know\Nabout the people who settled North America,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.93,0:00:58.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that they all left a place that food was often scarce
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.97,0:01:02.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a way that's nearly impossible for us to imagine now."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.46,0:01:06.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Europe land was in short supply and\Ncities were growing rapidly.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.46,0:01:10.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only royalty ate meat regularly,\Nbecause they were the only ones who had
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.62,0:01:12.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,access to grazing land.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.57,0:01:16.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In America, by contrast, the land was there for the taking
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.53,0:01:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,– from the Native Americans.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.00,0:01:20.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Colonists didn't know how far west the West went.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.52,0:01:24.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And with their legal structure, almost\Nanyone could own livestock.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:24.93,0:01:29.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"It was so easy for livestock to\Nreproduce – within just a generation or two,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.99,0:01:34.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,colonists became accustomed to the\Nnotion that
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.93,0:01:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,meat was always available
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.90,0:01:38.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and always on the table."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.79,0:01:42.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are cases where indentured\Nservants complained or away because
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.61,0:01:44.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they weren't getting fed enough meat –
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.68,0:01:48.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in general, the colonial legal system agreed –
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.38,0:01:50.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyone deserved meat.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.20,0:01:55.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"But I think that sense of entitlement became a defining characteristic of what it meant to be an American."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.52,0:01:59.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right from the beginning we wanted meat, because it felt like America was teeming in this
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.79,0:02:03.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,endless bounty of wildlife, land, and, uh –
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.77,0:02:04.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pigs.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.70,0:02:07.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After Americans had settled down and got\Ncomfortable,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.65,0:02:10.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,farmers packed up been headed to the\Ncity –
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.83,0:02:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but urban Americans kept their appetite for meat.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.50,0:02:14.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"That's important because
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.50,0:02:20.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,city people don't produce their own food.\NApproximately 1810, about 7 percent
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.53,0:02:23.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Americans lived in an urban\Nplace.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.85,0:02:25.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By the time the Civil War broke out,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.38,0:02:26.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,almost a quarter of them did."
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.70,0:02:29.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Initially, people just ate less meat.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.70,0:02:32.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It made sense – fewer farms meant less.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.54,0:02:35.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But, urban Americans demanded more and cheaper meat
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.68,0:02:39.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and our modern industrial system obliged. By the late 1800s
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.78,0:02:44.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,America had built up an extraordinarily\Nlarge, lucrative, and efficient system
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.31,0:02:45.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for raising livestock
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.70,0:02:47.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,turning them into meat,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.30,0:02:49.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and distributing that meat to stores across the U.S.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.32,0:02:54.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Meat traveled distances in hours –distances that once took weeks.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.84,0:02:58.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Transportation and other technologies,\Nlike refrigeration,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.68,0:03:01.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made meat cheaper and cities more\Nattractive.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.80,0:03:04.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And cheap meat is what Americans wanted.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.10,0:03:07.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what's the deal with Americans and meat?
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.27,0:03:11.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's the idea that we're entitled to it – \Nthe sense that land and resources are
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.55,0:03:13.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,plentiful and inexhaustible –
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.35,0:03:16.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and even if the US is consumption has\Ndecreased
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.43,0:03:20.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ever so slightly were still far more carnivorous than most.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.58,0:03:25.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Most countries love meat – but we Americans have\Nhad such a full history with it,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.04,0:03:29.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it was – from the very beginning – cheap and available.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.16,0:03:30.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we've worked hard to keep it that way.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.40,0:03:33.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Meat is a whole lot like gasoline,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.47,0:03:37.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the only time Americans really get upset\Nabout meat is if it suddenly seams unafforable
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.21,0:03:42.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as soon as the prices go back down – well then no one's got any complaint."
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.70,0:03:43.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When Americans met meat,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.96,0:03:47.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was love at first sight. Now we\Nhave to figure out
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.00,0:03:50.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how to live happily ever after.